Online Distance Learning Forum

Over here in the UK, the 4th of July is pretty much just another day. For my American readers, I know it is quite a big deal! However, even on in holiday periods, some US citizens currently don’t have much to celebrate. I was reading a special feature recently in the New York Times about the difficulties faced by middle class Americans who struggle to stay in the middle classes after losing well-paid manufacturing jobs. The reason - their education goes no higher than a high school diploma. For them, this new “independence” can be a daunting prospect.

In reality, these people have learned as much as, or more than, the average student learns in an online or traditional college degree. Many of them have worked their way up the ladder to managerial positions, only for their plant to close down and them to end up with new jobs paying half of their previous salary. This is a growing problem in the US, and most developed countries. More and more manufacturing processes are either being transferred to the third world, or disappearing completely.

For these middle aged men and women, it may feel too late to undertake an online degree. In reality, using some of their severance pay to improve their employment prospects could be the best thing for them to do. Finding the confidence to start afresh, however, might be more difficult.

Many online degrees make use of, and consolidate, existing experience. Many others offer a completely different path, while recognizing the skills that the more mature candidate has to offer. There is a host of online degrees which would suit middle aged career changers. For example, a manufacturing manager could pursue an online degree in finance management or marketing. Skilled manual workers, with years of experience in dealing with people and physical work, could investigate online associate degrees in a whole range of subjects. Here are some examples:

Online associate’s degree in homeland security;
Online associate’s degree in business administration/office management;
Online associate’s degree in massage therapy.

With programming jobs still on the rise, any of these professionals could also choose to start on the path to IT certification and online IT degrees.
The joy of online degrees is the flexibility they offer. The biggest challenge for the potential mature online degree student might be gaining the confidence to re-enter education after having the rug pulled from under them. If these people are able to take to plunge, there really is so many online degrees on offer, that this change of direction could be as much of a cause for celebration as the 4th of July. Enjoy!

Tom Cruise might claim to know a lot about psychiatry, but he would be wise to steer clear of a career in psychology. His recent, insensitive comments about Brooke Shields using the anti-depressant Paxil for her post-partum depression were misguided, to say the least. In fact, it almost made me change my mind about the exploits of the photographers who squirted him last week at the UK premiere of War of the Worlds. Perhaps he should spend less time on red carpet walkabouts and take an online psychology degree instead.

On his never ending promo tour for War of the Worlds, Tom Cruise suggested last month on Access Hollywood that Shields’ use of Paxil as "misguided". He asked what had happened to her career (um - didn't she have a child?) and suggested she should have used vitamins instead.

I would not pretend to be an expert on psychiatry, counseling psychology or any area of mental health, and I was also lucky enough not to suffer PPD after any of my three children. I would therefore never presume to make such crass, ill-informed comments. I would have hoped that a Hollywood actor who has lived 20 years out of the real world, and never fathered a child naturally, would feel the same. Sadly, with Tom, this was not the case.

Neither a psychological evaluation nor a career in psychology should be taken lightly. Professionals in counseling psychology and clinical psychology spend literally years of training so that they can work with and try to rehabilitate patients going through depression, trauma and other conditions. It is up to doctors, psychiatrists and psychologists to work with a patient to diagnose their condition and suggest routes through the problem. Pretending to save your children from aliens in front of a camera does not really qualify you to make judgement on others in this way.

Likewise, we have to hope that Brooke Shields has taken a lot of advice from psychology professionals while writing her book on her experiences of Post Partum Depression, and anti-depressants, Down Came the Rain. The cult of celebrity seems to have driven many unqualified professionals to enter the route of training and writing. Pamela Stevenson, wife of comedian Billy Connelly, on the other hand, abandoned acting and undertook a psychology degree. Now a psychologist, we can be confident that she knows what she is talking about. While Tom Cruise is entitled to his opinion, just as we are about War of the Worlds, he would be wise to keep his judgement on such sensitive issues to himself. Leave it to the professionals Tom and, please, if they suggest Mission Impossible 3, take an online psychology degree instead!